Cells
by behindabruise
Summary: Effy Stonem only enjoys Hogwarts for one reason: she sees Draco Malfoy. And Draco's only constant is Effy. They need each other as they are sucked into a whirlwind of darkness when Draco is forced into the world of the Death Eaters. Set during HBP
1. Cells

The first cracks of the sun's rays began to peak over the horizon and spill through the window, and Effy Stonem shot up in bed. She had been restless all night, waiting for the first hints of sunlight and the new day to fire through her bedroom window. She sighed, and gazed at the sunrise. Today was the end of holiday and the beginning of Effy's sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Effy tore the sheets away from her body, and slithered out of bed. She noted her bedroom, thinking it would be the last time she would see it for quite a long time. She wasn't too fond of her room, but she would miss it just the same. Effy sighed again. She was dressed in only a T-shirt and her underwear, so she pulled on a pair of jeans and went to wake her mother.

She traveled down to the end of the hall, noticing the window at the very end and the sun coming up steadily on the horizon. Effy entered the room and found her mother, Anthea, strewn across the bed, snoring lightly. Effy rolled her eyes. She had to shake her mother many times before she finally awoke, disdain in her eyes. Anthea disliked being woken up. Oftentimes, she would sleep later than her teenaged children.

Groggily, Anthea joined Effy in the downstairs kitchen. It was just they two. Effy's elder brother, Tony, was still asleep upstairs and Effy's father, Jim, had left the house and her mother after discovering an affair between his boss and Anthea. Effy remembered very clearly the situation in which he found out. His boss came right to the house, declared his love for Anthea, and then stuck his tongue down her throat, right there in front of Jim and Effy. Of course, Effy had known for some time. She had walked in on them when her father was away on business. She had pleaded with her mother to end things, but it wasn't enough.

Anthea sat at the table, across from Effy, lit up a cigarette as she asked, "When are you suppose to be there for your bloody train? I doubt it's so bloody early."

Effy's parents weren't the biggest fans of magic, especially her mother. Jim and Anthea barely had control over Effy and her wild older brother, Tony, as it was. Even as very young children, they would often antagonize their parents. Of course Jim and Anthea loved both Tony and Effy, but they became extremely tired of chasing them around and punishing them. Tony and Effy never learned as children. No amount of punishment or discipline could stop them both from doing whatever they liked. That drove their parents crazy. However, the single moment they learned of Effy's magical abilities was the instant they lost complete control of their children.

Effy was out in the yard, playing in her mother's garden, which was not allowed. Tony was inside, playing with his miniature cars. Anthea came outside to check on Effy, and found her traveling through the tall sunflowers and watching ants and caterpillars and butterflies soak up the nectar and eat the leaves of the of poppies, pansies, and ginger. Anthea must have told her daughter at least ten times not to go into her garden. Of course, she looked very sweet playing there, her blue dress ruffling in the summer's breeze and her eyes absolutely enthralled by the bugs and the flowers. But Anthea couldn't have Effy constantly disobeying her. So, she marched up to Effy, towering over her, and said, "Elizabeth Stonem. You _cannot _play in my garden!"

She grabbed Effy's arm with the intention of dragging her away from the garden. But she experienced a strange sensation when she touched her daughter's skin, and had to pull away. Effy's skin had burned Anthea. Anthea looked at her red hand and then back at Effy with absolute disbelief gleaming in her blue eyes. Young Effy smirked. Anthea could only look at her hand and then back at the child. "Effy . . ." she murmured in incredulity.

At that very moment, sparks of many different colors erupted from Effy's hand. She smiled happily and looked at her mother, expecting her to be impressed. Anthea could only let her mouth hang open and rub her eyes, as if her sight was deceiving her. But it wasn't.

Effy's disobedient and independent behavior only worsened with age, especially with the aid of her magical abilities. As a normal human, Effy roamed the streets on her own accord, and lived her life to the maximum: this included drugs, alcohol, and sex. Her brother indulged in this lifestyle as well. He was the very one who taught Effy of her questionable ways. But with magic, Effy found creative ways to torture her parents and kids at her school. She oftentimes stole money and items from people and stores, undetected. Tony was very accepting of his sister's strange magical abilities, and even helped her to practice devious behaviors with them. However, Tony was only a Muggle, a person without magical abilities, and so he did not attend Hogwarts with his sister. However, Effy was quite envious of him because of this. She desired to live a simple life of a Muggle filled with sex and spliff as her brother did, but she was shipped to Hogwarts each year so she could learn to use her magical abilities. And today was the day that she returned to that life.

Effy replied to her mother's question in her low, raspy voice as she watched her inhale smoke, "We have to be at the train station before 11:00."

Anthea nodded, her expression seemingly filled with a degree of contempt. This would go unnoticed by most people, but Effy was very talented at gauging expressions, as was her brother. "Alright then. You're all packed, aren't you?"

"Yes. You just have to get me there in one piece, mum," Effy sneered.

Anthea returned Effy's comment with a disparaging smirk and snarled, "Oh yeah, you'll be in one bloody piece all right."

Effy knew that meant the exact opposite: Anthea was going to get completely wasted before dropping her only daughter off at the train station, not to see her for the next few months. Anthea had always been the type of mother to do this. Effy knew Anthea married Jim simply because she needed someone to take care of her, and Jim was madly in love with her. Anthea did not feel this way about him though. But Anthea did need someone to pay for her cigarettes and her booze and would let her stay out at parties and nightclubs. It was only when Anthea was pregnant with Tony did she cut back. She cut back with Effy, too. But as soon as both of her children were out of the womb, she continued the same behavior as before. She continued it for a very long time, until she turned forty. When Anthea turned forty, everything changed. Effy was ten-years-old and she could recall her mother staying in more, getting drunk alone, and popping prescription pills at home. Her father was too henpecked to stop her from continuing this spiraling downward.

Effy went upstairs, leaving her mother alone in the kitchen. She dressed in a black skirt, black ripped tights, a white T-shirt, and a black leather jacket. She rimmed her eyes with black mascara and straightened her unruly brown hair. She packed the last of her makeup in a small bag, which she tucked inside her suitcase. As she sauntered down the hallway, towing her luggage, she passed by Tony's room, where she could see he was still fast asleep.

She slipped into his room and stood over his sleeping form. He looked absolutely peaceful and harmless while in repose. Effy knew that wasn't his true self though. She kissed his forehead, and then traveled down the stairs.

God, Effy would miss Tony. He was just like her. They had such a connection, a connection no one else could understand, not even their parents. When Tony blinked, Effy blinked. When Tony fidgeted, Effy fidgeted in the same manner. Effy would be beside herself if anything ever happened to her brother. It was enough that she had to leave him for months at a time. But if one day she returned from Hogwarts and found that Tony had disappeared, Effy would simply fall apart.

Anthea waited by the front door, still in her robe and slippers, a bottle of Jack Daniels in one hand and a cigarette in the other. She smirked when Effy narrowed her eyes in disgust. Her mother truly did disgust her sometimes. Effy liked drugs and alcohol and sex as much as her mother, but her mother was _her mother_. And that was absolutely vile, viler than anything Effy would do.

Anthea recklessly drove her daughter to the King's Cross Railway Station, and dropped her off without so much as a kiss on the cheek, only a swig of Jack and a wave goodbye. Effy rolled her trunk through the train station and found Platform 9¾. She arrived just in time. Everyone was boarding the train. First Years' parents were weeping and some students leaned from the windows to wave goodbye to parents that had accompanied them to their train. Effy hurriedly jumped onto the train, and made her way to the back, looking for a compartment she could spend the next few hours in.

"Keep yourself and your lollygagging ginger and his filthy Mudblood girlfriend away from us and do not eavesdrop again, _Potter_," someone spat just ahead of Effy as she traveled through the train.

Effy reached the dispute and found none other than Draco Malfoy, who was dressed stylishly in black pants, a black shirt, and a black blazer, confronting Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley, the epic trio that everyone seemed to worship. Everyone turned as Effy approached them. The five students all met their first year at Hogwarts, and they were all the same age.

Draco and Effy were extremely close. They had immediately become more and more attached the moment they met. The two were amazingly similar, sharing very similar views and agreeing on very many things, as well as having the same interests, and became close companions over the years at Hogwarts.

"Effy," Draco greeted the mysterious girl breathlessly, forgetting all about his anger towards Harry and his two disciples for eavesdropping on him and some other Slytherins in their compartment. Harry and the others looked at him oddly, for they had never seen him act without composure. He snapped back to his usual self though, and snarled at them, "Well get on then!"

The three retreated back to a compartment, leaving only Effy and Draco.

"Hello, Draco," Effy addressed him, a hint of humanity flushing her tone. "It's lovely to see you again."

"It's lovely to see you as well."

Effy had indeed known Draco for some time. But it was only this year that she realized that they could be so much more than friends. She gazed into his stony eyes felt so much more for him than simple friendship. They both despised Potter and his good-doing friends. They enjoyed being Slytherins and always had the same classes together, which was why they often found themselves working and studying together. Not to mention that they were both manipulative and enjoyed the spotlight they often received. The only thing that seemed to divide them was the largest partition of the Wizarding World: Effy was a Mudblood and Draco was of the purest wizard blood. However, Draco didn't know of Effy's blood status. He thought her a pureblood, just like everyone else in Slytherin. Effy did all she could over the past six years to keep this a secret from Draco and her House. If anyone ever found out, especially Draco, she would surely be shunned by her House, and Effy and Draco's blossoming friendship would be in shambles.

Draco smirked at her. Effy had always loved his smile. It shone full of confidence and assurance, something that made Effy feel safe. It reminded her of her brother – protected, secure. Though Draco and Tony were almost completely different on the outside, they had so much in common on the inside. Draco and Tony both enjoyed supremacy, sometimes more than they should. They also were extremely confident and had a strong capacity for manipulation. They were both driven by ambition and greed. If Tony had been born a wizard and attended Hogwarts, he and Draco would have gotten along finely, as he and Effy had. A twinge of loneliness twisted Effy's heart. She missed Tony so much already.

Draco motioned for Effy to enter an empty compartment with him. From the compartment opposite, Effy saw Pansy Parkinson look on with some degree of rage and jealousy. Effy smirked triumphantly at her through the glass, and slammed the door of the compartment shut. Pansy Parkinson was another Slytherin girl with a face like that of a pug, and always looked as though she had caught the smell of something dreadful. She was known to have quite a crush on Draco Malfoy.

Effy and Draco sat opposite of each other and began discussing their summer vacation. Effy observed Draco, undetected by him. She admired his short, silvery blonde locks and his impressive grooming. Draco was exceedingly pale, his skin as white as snow, not unlike Effy's. He also had spectacular stone gray eyes that Effy coveted above all of his features: they hid everything. Effy could not read Draco properly, as she could read others easily, by simply looking into their eyes. And Effy was sure her icy blue eyes had once or twice deceived her, giving away some hint of emotion that gave way to her entire scheme at the time. But Draco's eyes were different. They veiled and concealed every emotion, every thought of Draco's, even the ones he wouldn't mind letting others see. He wanted Effy to see that he was thinking of her, he always had, but she couldn't see passed the stony pigment of his irises.

Draco so wanted to traverse Effy's mind, explore and divulge into the empty spaces and caverns of her brain as he sat there with her, chatting about trivial things. But of course, their conversation didn't get very far. They spoke of only unimportant matters before arriving at the Hogsmeade Station. It was time to go back to Hogwarts.

This was both Draco and Effy's sixth year back at Hogwarts, and while Effy saw it as just another miserable year away from her brother and the parties and the drugs, Draco saw it as a terrifying opportunity to fulfill a task no sixteen-year-old boy should be tasked with.

"Hogwarts," Draco sneered as the train came to a halt. "What a pathetic excuse for a school."

Effy grinned mildly. "Yes. I suppose it is just a shit hole, isn't it?" she said in a calm, dreamlike voice. She used this voice when she was about to experience something unpleasant.

Effy and Draco stepped off of the train. Immediately, Effy spotted a girl who was as blonde as Draco. She stood near the edge of the platform, reading _The Quibbler_ upside down. Effy recognized her immediately. "Luna!" she cried out.

Luna Lovegood looked up from her magazine. "Effy!" she shouted back, a dreamy excitement filling her voice.

Luna and Effy approached each other and hugged. Luna was Effy's only friend at Hogwarts other than Draco. She was a Ravenclaw, and a strange and dreamy girl who others often made fun of. She seemed to be trapped in her own world most of the time. She reminded Effy of Effy's best friend back home, Pandora.

Draco and Luna weren't exactly on the best terms. Draco found Luna to be insane and tried to avoid her to the best of his abilities, and Effy tried to keep the two away from each other because Draco couldn't help insulting her every time they met. Effy never got too upset over his insults because she could understand why he made them. Luna was very intrigued by Draco, and so she didn't mind his disparaging comments about her odd pieces of jewelry or dreamy demeanor. Draco did, however, accept her to a certain degree because she was of pure blood.

Draco nodded as he sneered and she smiled a faraway smiled and said cheerfully, "Hello, Draco!" Draco did not reply. Luna turned to Effy. "Hi, Luna," she said. "Shall we find a carriage?"

Draco left the girls and found a carriage with his two cronies, Crabbe and Goyle. Effy and Luna took one of the remaining carriages that were pulled by the mysterious Thestrals. Luna chattered on about her summer in Sweden looking for Crumple-Horned Snorkacks with her father, Xenophilius Lovegood. Effy tuned her out though, and merely watched and listened to the cold, black night as the invisible Thestrals pulled her carriage toward Hogwarts.

When everyone had arrived at Hogwarts, Luna and Effy went to their separate common rooms so they could change into their robes and join the rest of the school in the Great Hall for the feast. Effy arrived late enough to miss the Sorting of all the First Years. There seemed to be a large influx to Gryffindor, and only a few new Slytherins. It seemed the amount of new students allowed into Slytherin House was diminishing more and more each year. Effy could recall her own Sorting.

She was one of the last ones called, some time after Draco. She wasn't nervous at all, as some of the others had been, as she sat down on that stool in front of the entire school. Professor McGonagall placed the terribly old and dreadful hat upon her head and the instant it touched Effy, it cried out in a loud and sure voice, "_Slytherin!_"

The Slytherin house roared with applause and excitement. The other Houses were absolutely silent. Effy rose from the stool and sauntered over to the Slytherin Table, where she was greeted with many claps on the back and more applause. Many of the boys of Slytherin House began to notice her immediately at the ripe age of only eleven, including even a few older Prefects. However, Effy was used to this sort of attention though even at such a young age, and did not think much of it. This was not in the way she met Draco Malfoy though. Effy met him one day when she couldn't remember the password to the Slytherin common room.

Effy approached the wall to which a password was to be spoken. She realized she didn't know the password and groaned. She decided to sit and wait for someone who did know the password to come along and reveal the passageway to Slytherin common room. So, Effy sat against the wall and waited. Only a few minutes later, Draco Malfoy ambled to the wall and noticed Effy sitting there, obviously frustrated. He glanced around, noticed her Slytherin robes, and offered, "Forgot the password?"

Effy looked up and nodded. "Yeah. As if I didn't have enough to remember for all these stupid classes they have here."

Draco smirked and said to the wall, "Pureblood." That caused Effy to shudder.

The wall moved to the side to reveal the long, dark hallway that lead to the spacious common room of the Slytherin House. Effy stood and Draco offered his hand, saying, "I'm Draco Malfoy, by the way."

Effy hinted a smile, and took his hand smoothly in hers. "Hello. I'm Effy Stonem. You're a First Year too, aren't you?"

Draco nodded. The two traveled into the common room together and ended up talking for the rest of the night; they had a lot in common, and not to mention most of their classes together.

Effy smiled at the memory. Draco was a good friend and the type of friend Effy liked a lot. He was different from the others in that he was so like her. They enjoyed all of the same things. If Effy and Draco didn't live in two completely different counties – Effy lived in Bristol, and Draco lived somewhere in Wiltshire – then they might have become best friends because they would spend a vast amount of time together. But alas, they were apart most of the time, including the ever-important summer break, so Effy and Draco had never gotten too close. Still, Effy couldn't shake her attachment and feelings of loyalty and friendship toward Draco. She felt like she had known him for years. Also it was now, during their Sixth Year, that Effy was starting to develop other feelings, deeper feelings, feelings that extended beyond the levels of friendship. They made Effy shudder.

Draco was a blood supremacist to the highest degree. He loathed Hermione Granger and other Mudbloods of Hogwarts. It scared Effy. She was very terrified of Draco finding out about her awkward blood status, and losing him forever. She couldn't stand to lose him. He was about the only thing that got her through Hogwarts. Being a Mudblood was her best-kept secret. No one in the entire school had any inkling that she was anything but pureblood. However, Effy often avoiding deriding Mudbloods with her fellow Slytherins. She felt a connection to the other Mudbloods. They were like her, awkward and frightened of an entirely new world. She couldn't help but to pity people who were so like her. Effy wasn't often the pitying type. But something deep inside of her felt for and understood other Mudbloods, and this concerned her greatly. She felt very intensely for Draco, and she didn't feel like that very often. Therefore this remarkable difference could cause a rift like no other between she and Draco.


	2. Mind

As everyone cleared the Great Hall, Effy was too eager to get to her bed. She hadn't gotten any sleep the night before and she had begun to nod off during the meal. She yawned as she was pushed through the large wooden doors and felt her face lightly mash into the soft cotton robes of another student. Effy didn't typically make mistakes like these, but she could not have cared less than in that moment. She only wanted to fall into her bed, through the layers of repose, and land in a dream of home.

Effy looked up into the face of the taller student she had knocked into. However, she could already discern who it was without seeing the face. The mess of fiery red hair gave it away.

"Ron," Effy greeted him curtly. The boy beside Ronald Weasley turned around as well, revealing Ron's best pal and the Boy Wonder, Harry Potter. Effy's demeanor immediately flipped as she straightened her spine and tilted her smile to a faint smirk and cooed, "Boys!"

For five years, Effy had been enjoying manipulating the trio of Harry Potter and his sidekicks Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Because her greatest friend, Draco, disliked the trio so much, Effy did what she could to undo their friendships and the security they had amongst each other. However, it wasn't a truly evil thing. It was more a fun project of Effy's, such as the ones she had been she was much younger. She would wound an ant with a pin and then allow it to live, allow it to suffer. She did this with the Golden Trio – stick them every now and then and let them suffer a little bit, but always recover.

Ron smiled a wide, dopey smile that reminded Effy of a puppy. It was rather cute, actually. Effy smiled mischievously in return. "Oh, Effy. Hi, how are you?" Ron asked eagerly. Harry grimaced.

At first, both Harry and Ron disliked Effy, seeing her as another crony of Draco's. But when Effy began to act sweetly toward them, they soon abandoned they originally harbored for Effy, noticing her smooth skin, soft red lips, and magical blue eyes. Ron melted immediately, jumping at a smile or even just an encounter of their eyes. But Harry was much hesitant. Of course, he had many more things to think about other than girls, but he knew Effy was bad news. Not only that, but Ron was a lovesick puppy around Effy Stonem. Each year however, Effy reeled in her lure around Harry just a little bit tighter, and this year was no different. Both Ron and Harry had secretly joined the group of many boys at Hogwarts who coveted Effy Stonem.

Effy knew that what she was doing was just a little game she played because she could. But this year, she peered into Harry's as she had many times before, and realized he wasn't exactly bad to look at. Her smile widened and her eyes skipped between the boys. "I suppose I'm well, just a bit sleepy."

"Oh, yeah, the Sorting seemed to go on forever this year, didn't it?" Ron stammered, laughing nervously. Harry rolled his eyes. But he knew that his heart had leapt when he saw Effy's glowing face speaking to he and Ron. He could only curse himself and try to drown that spark of emotion as quickly as possible. "So did you –"

"Ronald!" a voice cut through Ron's question. Everyone turned to see a frizzy-haired Hermione Granger storming up to them, though Effy was impressed that she had tamed her hair better than ever this year. She looked much prettier, as her face and shiny eyes could be better seen now. Hermione eyed Effy disapprovingly before turning to Ron and Harry. Her face suddenly flushed when she saw Harry as well. "Harry, you too. Come along, let's go."

Ron sneered and said firmly, "No."

Effy smiled. She enjoyed Ron defying one of his goody-goody friends. It was the very thing Effy was trying to create among the trio. Her conquering eyes darted to Hermione's. It was then that she picked up on something – something small, glinting in her dark, shiny eyes. Her smirk grew wider.

Effy had never toyed with Hermione as much as she had Ron and Harry because there simply was not much to toy with. Hermione had a strong mind, as well as a strong will. She was very unwilling to crack and allow her cards to show, unlike her more simple-minded companion Ron. However, there wasn't an undercurrent of emotion or attraction, as in Harry's case, that Effy could exploit and then use to force her victim to fold. So, Effy used little slip-ups Hermione had difficulty controlling, as she was not a master at the stone veil she cast upon herself like Effy.

Hermione stamped her foot. "Ronald! You are needed in the _Gryffindor_," her eyes flitted to Effy's, "common room. And Harry, what are you doing? Aren't there more _important_ things to take care of?"

"You aren't supposed to use a preposition at the end of a sentence." Ron and Harry turned incredulously to face Effy. They both knew very well that correcting Hermione was something that almost never worked out. Hermione would argue that she was right until you just gave up. She usually ended up being right as well.

Hermione scoffed, "That rule doesn't apply if a verb has a preposition connected to it. But of course, you wouldn't know that –"

"No one asked_ your_ opinion, you filthy little mudblood!" a familiar voice snarled. It was Draco Malfoy, standing over Effy's small frame, proudly defending her. Effy knew this, but she also knew that the funny thing was, she didn't need defending.

Everyone froze as Draco smiled triumphantly. Harry and Ron exchanged glances. Effy's eyes flitted to Hermione's, waiting for a break. But it didn't come. Hermione narrowed her small eyes and wheeled around, the boys in tow, dashing towards to Gryffindor common room.

Effy turned to face Draco. He smiled down at her, the tilted smile that Effy often caught herself making as well. A corner of her lips turned upward. She was very cool and composed as she said to him, "You know Draco, I don't need much defending."

Draco's face slowly exchanged its arrogant triumph to dubiousness. His silver eyebrows settled deeply over his eyes. "Hermione Granger is a filthy mudblood, what does it even matter?"

Effy shrugged. "What if I told you they were my friends?"

Draco seemed relieved at this, throwing his head back and laughing, knowing it was a joke. "Come on, Effy, are you going up to the common room?"

She nodded, and the two Slytherins left. As they traversed the many moving staircases, trying to make their way down to the dungeons, Effy thought about the events that took place. Draco had defended Effy, albeit it was unnecessary, and even a slight annoyance to her. Effy did not enjoy other people doing things for her or thinking she was incapable. She was not only capable, but also willing, and underestimating her was a severe mistake she would make people pay for by manipulating and exploiting them. Of course, she wouldn't do that to Draco. The welling feelings inside her as well as their close friendship caused some sort of blockage inside of Effy, keeping the flood of subtle insults and observations that could cause Draco's entire undoing. This was uncommon though not unheard of for Effy. When she was younger, she felt the same sort of obstruction lodge itself in her heart whenever her parents crossed her or didn't take her seriously. A fire would burn inside of her to prove herself, her worth, and her right to neither be crossed nor underestimated. Frequently, this fire would be let loose on the unsuspecting victim immediately, and without a second thought. Until she had felt this fire in her chest towards her parents, it would be set free whether she wanted it to be or not, though she had never desired it to be locked away until that moment. So, she learned to store it since that moment, for the sake of her mother and father, though her empathy and compassion for her parents would soon disappear. However, when it was blocked, it burned Effy instead of another target. It was a nasty burn that left an awful wound for many days, during which she would have trouble conjuring up the fire once more for another victim. But she felt that she could survive the wound for only two people, and they were her beloved brother Tony, and her best friend, Draco.

Effy lifted her eyes to find herself and Draco entering the Slytherin common room, the reflected light from the lake above dancing on the walls and floors. She joined Draco upon one of the green leather couches in the center of the room.

The silence between the two was palpable, yet somehow comfortable and inviting. Effy usually didn't mind silences anyway, even preferred not to talk sometimes, as she had throughout most of her childhood. From a young age, Effy could never understand the need for people to fill silences with incessant chatter and small talk about the weather, about school. Why couldn't two people just sit in silence sometimes? People weren't meant to constantly be talking. If they were, it wouldn't be so damned annoying to everyone.

Though Effy often preferred silence, she could still use cues to identify an awkward silence. The other person or persons would fidget, allow their eyes to flit about, bite their lip, or any other sort of mindless habit they could abuse so as not to feel the cold cumbersomeness penetrate their skin, something Effy always invited. However, there were no such cues, no such unwieldy wind floating above their skin. It was a truly comfortable silence, which Effy didn't often experience with typical people. She could only really experience it with Tony, because he was so used to being around a silent Effy, and hr good friend Luna, because she was nearly impervious to awkward things and the social behaviors that cause them, like Effy.

Effy closed her eyes and allowed the sweet warmth of a comfortable silence wash over her. She allowed the warmth to penetrate her skin, something she often denied entrance, as she did with the cold too. She was more at ease than ever with Draco, the affection she harbored within her rejoicing. Effy opened her eyes and glanced at Draco beside her, and noticed that something appeared to be weighing on him.

Finally, he spoke. "I don't know if I can stand two more years at this school," Draco confessed. She gauged her grave appearance.

Effy could detect something greater in his solemn demeanor and voice. Draco shared his father's scorn for Hogwarts, but the degree of derision in her silvery friend's voice seemed greater than ever before. It appeared to go much deeper than a simple hereditary contempt.

"Draco, _you can tell me anything, you know__. __If something's up_, I can help you," Effy attempted. It was born directly of the blossoming feelings churning in the pit of her stomach.

Draco turned to face her very suddenly, their faces lined up exactly. "I hate this place. I hate who I am."

Effy's eyebrows trembled, fighting the desire to knit themselves over her eyes kindly. She tilted her head to the side, keeping his gaze. "You can talk to me, Draco."

He looked away, breaking their gaze, shaking his head doubtfully. Without another word on the subject, he rose, muttering under his breath, "Good night," and swiftly heading to the bedchambers.

Effy was left completely alone in the common room now. An impulse in Effy's gut to worry and stress over the little details of the small event that had just taken place between them gripped her core, but Effy shook it away quickly, too weary to allow schoolgirl tendencies to ruin who she was. So she left it alone, and did not think of that event again.

Instead, Effy remembered the little glimmer in Hermione Granger's eye as she spoke to Ron early in the evening. It was a poignant little spark, something so small and nearly indefinable that its meaning was almost too easy to be discerned. It was something that Effy had seemed many times before – her father, Jim, had always had it twinkling rather conspicuously for his beloved wife Anthea, though it had never been reciprocated. It was a spark of mad desire, Effy knew; a spark that gave away Hermione's deeply seeded yearning for her orangey haired companion whom she had so often fought against. This puzzle was almost too easy for Effy to decipher. Hermione longed for Ron Weasley, perhaps always had, only this was the year she had decided to let it come to fruition. And Effy had spotted it effortlessly in her shining little irises. Hermione was absolutely desirous for Ron.

Effy smirked to herself, proud that she had picked the lock to Hermione's affections with such ease, such skill. Effy found her ability to read others the most impressive part of her personality, and she used it without mercy. None other, besides maybe her older brother Tony, paralleled her capacity and desire for manipulation and exploitation. After all, she did learn everything she knew from simply watching him. And it aided both of them so well. So well that now, already, on the first day back at Hogwarts, she had something against the holier-than-thou Hermione Granger, a crack in her otherwise perfect stone veil.

It wasn't really that Effy disliked Hermione. Hermione was just fine, in her own right. But Draco seemed to despise the trio so much that Effy decided to aid in her own way: through subtle manipulation. Sometimes, that kind of delicate exploitation could be the unraveling of someone, Effy knew, as she had witnessed it many times before, sometimes unexpectedly. Harry's face entered her mind and suddenly, a slight twinge of guilt was felt deep inside her. Effy was completely surprised by this, as she almost never felt pity or sadness for other people. It wasn't in her nature unless it was someone she cared for so deeply that she couldn't hold the emotions back. However, though she had known Harry for five years now, she hadn't known him much better than the rest of the Wizarding World. Like other wizards, she knew him as the Boy Who Lived, the boy who defeated the Dark Lord and would defeat him again when the time came. Effy supposed it was rather impressive and all, but she didn't much care about the fate of the Wizarding World. Maybe if it all did descend into chaos like Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore were always saying it would, she could live a normal life as a Muggle who could secretly use magic. That would be a fine life. She wouldn't have to attend magic school, she could attend university with her brother, and possibly become friends with children who were her age and not magical. Above all of these things, Effy would be happiest about not worrying over having Muggle parents. There would be no need to keep her lineage a precious secret.

Effy knew that He Who Must Not Be Named hated mudbloods of course. But she didn't really keep up with wizard news, so she was sure, as was the rest of the Wizarding World, that it was no longer a problem. She didn't fret over the prophetic warnings of Harry Potter and his crackpot mentor, Professor Dumbledore. She wasn't outside the norm either.

Another pang of guilt grappled Effy's core. She thought of Harry and his seemingly desperate attempts to get other wizards to listen to he and Dumbledore. Everyone was too busy or too scared to listen to them, and Effy just wanted to stay out of it. But could it be possible that he and Dumbledore were right? If Harry could defeat He Who Must Not Be Named, then maybe he could predict his second coming, like some sort of forecaster of darkness and doom in the Wizarding World. Perhaps he was linked to He Who Must Not Be Named in some sort of magical way that allowed him to predict when he would strike.

Effy shook her head, trying to shake the thought loose from its lodging in her mind. The chances of any of that being remotely true were extremely slim. Harry and He Who Must Not Be Named weren't cosmically linked. As a Sixth Year, Effy would know if there was any sort of mystical magic that could do such a thing, and there wasn't. No one at Hogwarts had ever taught to any student of a way to bind someone so intrinsically to another.

Pulled out of her thoughts by the slam of a door in another part of the dungeons, Effy suddenly realized how late it had become. Overcome by exhaustion but still feeling like a live wire, Effy pulled herself from the couch in the common room, and drifted to the bedchambers.


End file.
